


A Beginning

by Kaito_Dragneel



Series: Paranormal Domino [21]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Cody and Hunter are friends, Fluff, Gen, Hunter Centric, Hunter calls Echo and Fives "kid" even though he is younger than both, Hunter is a tired dad, Kamino, world building
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:47:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24207670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaito_Dragneel/pseuds/Kaito_Dragneel
Summary: Hunter’s view as the Bad Batch is built
Series: Paranormal Domino [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1715857
Comments: 2
Kudos: 156





	A Beginning

“Today’s the day. It has to be.” Hunter’s heart always broke a little every time that he heard Tech chant those words only to be shut down. He had resigned to the fact that they were lab rats and not meant for the actual field. _Mutations_. The longnecks always looked at them with such a sharp disdain that it made Hunter’s skin crawl. But… today… Hunter couldn’t help but feel a little hopeful. The attack on Kamino had been horrible. Cadets had died. Kids. Hunter had scrambled his ragtag group of troopers and fought back to keep the cadets safe. They had proven their worth against the droids. So… yes… Hunter was hopeful. “Today. It has to be today.”

Tech was pacing back and forth, muttering to himself. Wrecker was laying down on his bunk, throwing the reg helmet in his hands up against the ceiling and the catching it only to throw it again. Crosshair was leaned up against his bunk, staring up at the ceiling as if it had offended him. It probably had, knowing Crosshair. They had been like this ever since their normal training routine had been interrupted by the longneck who oversaw their training.

Tech was their youngest. He had been brought to the Hunter only months before the attack. Tech had vision problems, and an obsession with knowing and learning everything. The longnecks called it an intelligence mutation. The vision problems and intelligence boosts were the reason for Tech not being implemented into the other troopers, the glasses he wore could easily break in battle, but Hunter was sure that Tech could create glasses that could withstand battle.

Wrecker was the second trooper that Hunter had received. He was big. Bigger than the commandos and nulls. He dwarfed some troopers, made them uncomfortable. Hunter was sure that his size sometimes made Wrecker very conscious. Wrecker was sporadic, easily distracted, unnecessarily strong, and loud. He was hard to get a handle on and sometimes he didn’t follow orders. It took some time, but Hunter was able to get Wrecker to listen to him. He had figured out how to deal with Wrecker.

Crosshair… now, he was a little different. Crosshair was thin, his bone structure was thinner, which meant his bones broke more easily compared to normal troopers . That didn’t mean he couldn’t hold his own though. Crosshair was an amazing sharpshooter, much better than the others, but… he was a mutated clone, so it didn’t matter how good he was. What mattered was that he wasn’t “perfect”. That fact had made Crosshair bitter towards the regs. Hunter couldn’t blame him, but he wished the guy would just stop being an _asshole_ for _five karking minutes_.

“Today is the day. I know it is” Tech chants and Crosshair groans in irritation, sitting up to probably rebuke Tech, and then it happened.

The door to their room opened, and a regular trooper… no… a _commander_ with gold trimmed armor and a scar curling around his left eye steps into the room. Tech stops where he is and Crosshair and Wrecker sit up in shock. Hunter pushes himself up and stands tall. He knows who this is. Everyone knows who this is. Marshal Commander Cody, commander of the Third Systems Army, 7th Sky Corps, and Ghost Company.

“Sergeant Hunter, I hope you don’t mind if I watch you and your boys in action. Clone Force 99 is being deployed once you pass the normal graduation test,” Commander Cody states with such practiced ease and calm, that the words take a minute to register for Hunter.

Clone Force 99 is being deployed. They must be clone force 99. They were being deployed. _They were being deployed._ Hunter hears Tech take in a sharp breath in shock, he hears Wrecker cheer behind him, he can sense Crosshair’s heartbeat picking up as the sharpshooter straightens. Hunter looks over the commander as he straightens up. He looks… smug almost. As if he had won an argument long fought. He probably had.

“We’ll pass,” Hunter says with a determined nod, not an ounce of doubt in his voice.

“Good. Gear up.”

It’s years later when they finally pick up a new squad mate. Cody’s vod’ika, ARC Trooper Corporal Echo, was a mess of PTSD, tactics, suicidal tendencies, and trauma. At first, the kid was quiet, watching, observing, trying to find a way to fit into the mess that was the Bad Batch. There were instances when the kid would just stare into space and smile or laugh, like he was listening to a joke only he could hear. Then there were instances where he would twitch at the things Hunter or Crosshair said about regs. He never said anything though. He just listened and tightened his jaw

Echo was quiet for the first few weeks, but he and Tech became fast friends, he and Wrecker became buddies as well after Echo had beat him in a game of “kill as many droids you can in one shot”, and after Echo had decked Crosshair for saying something about his batchmates those two became friends as well. Hunter’s relationship with Echo was one of respect. The kid followed his lead, and spent nights watching whatever holo-show he had picked out for them.

Then… after a few weeks of having Echo aboard, Hunter realizes that they picked up a second new squad mate. A ghost. A ghost clone trooper, from Torrent. A trooper that was close friends with Echo. Cody had told him that, as a leader, he would need to deal with things that he would not want to question. Having a ghost aboard must have been one of those things.

“Ghoulie! Where the kark did you put my toothpicks!”

“It’s _Fives_! You asshole!”

“Fives, give Crosshair his toothpicks back.” Hunter spins the screwdriver in his hand sitting in the copilot seat in the cockpit, not looking up from Echo’s cybernetic arm. Tech is snickering quietly alongside Echo in front of him. There is a loud clang and a yelp from the back of the ship and Hunter sighs heavily. “Idiot, both of them.”

“You love us though,” Echo smiles with glee.

“Debatable.”


End file.
